Yakyudori Yakitori & Ramen -- passable if you're desperate

Yakyudori Yaktori & Ramen
4898 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 268-2888

Sometimes I join a group called the Kearny Mesa Lunch Bunch (KMLB) for lunch. The group is based in the Kearny Mesa area in San Diego and lunches include visiting new restaurants or sometimes, just old favorites which need desperately to be revisited. On one such occasion, we came here.

The restaurant is really small and the same goes for the menu. There are about 6 types of ramen you can choose from and each comes with a few toppings. Additional toppings range from 50 cents to $2 and the usual stuff such as bamboo, chashu, beansprouts, green onions etc are available.

They offer small bowls of ramen and it is confusing on the menu because it is hard to decipher how much a small bowl costs. But actually, it is $1.50 less than whatever regular bowl of ramen costs depending on the style of ramen you want.

I also got chicken karaage which was actually quite good. I tasted the takoyaki (octopus balls) which they called fried octopus fritters on the menu..... were meh. I've definitely had much better and these were kinda mass-produced tasting. They also have gyozas which I didn't try, but those who did said it was really good.

I ordered a small bowl of nagoya style ramen and a small bowl doesn't come with the soft boiled egg, while the large bowl does. It doesn't make any sense really because the egg costs $1.50 so essentially, it is cheaper to just get the regular bowl of ramen and not eat your extra ramen for the same price.

I got additional chashu, beansprouts, egg (since mine didn't come with any) and bamboo. The ramen itself came with a small spoonful of ground pork and some chives. The small bowl also comes with a minuscule amount of broth so the ramen was essentially kinda on the dry side. The regular sized ramen had a decent amount of broth.

Flavor-wise the chashu was really good, not too fatty and very tasty. The ramen was just so-so and the broth was on the weak side. I asked for the creamed garlic to add to my broth for additional flavor and it helped some.

In the end, when you add this topping and that topping, the price of your ramen can get quite expensive. My bowl of ramen ended up costing about $11 when Santouka ramen's most expensive bowl of ramen costs the same with more pork and more toppings already included. Santouka's broth is also far superior to the one here.

For a quick ramen fix this place suffices. It also looks like it is trying to turn itself into an izakaya during dinner time as there were signs stipulating that once they get their liquor license they will be serving yakitori (grilled skewers) along with the alcohol.

Yakyudori definitely has potential to become a happening place!

Fukada -- Comfort food without the guilt

Fukada
8683 Irvine Center Drive Irvine, CA 92618
(949) 341-0111

In Irvine, good food is really hard to come by. For some odd reason, we have one of the best school districts in the country, which attracts families, which attracts money etc, but they can't for some reason attract restaurants which serve up great food. Go figure.

Fukada is the exception -- when it is in a good mood that is. Most of the time, Fukada has great food, except when it has less than stellar food. When that happens, it's not a good experience.

It is a very popular lunch time destination with lines forming before the restaurant even opens at 11.30am. Fifteen minutes upon opening, the restaurant is already at full capacity. Sucks to be you if you arrive just a few minutes too late to snatch up the last table.

They have a pretty good sized menu, but most people go for the lunch combos which are about $10 or less. These give you the option of a noodle and a don (rice bowl), or a salad with slices of seared raw fish with your choice of 3 rice bowls. Some of the selections include unagi-don (eel), spicy tuna don, ten-don (tempura), curry-don and a few others. With the salad selection you can choose only from spicy tuna don and 2 types of rolls. For an extra $2, you can choose any of the other choices available. The same combo is offered at dinner time, but for a few dollars more.

A white board also offers special combos which claims to be daily specials. Only thing is, I've only seen these choices change twice in the years we've been coming here. If you wish to order a la carte, the menu has entrees such as teriyaki chicken and salmon. However, noodles and tempura are their specialty. Fukada makes its own noodles -- specifically, udon. Although I prefer soba (buckwheat noodles) over udon, they often are a hit and miss. On my last visit, they tasted like the flour to buckwheat ratio was off, hence, doughy and hard at the same time. Weird texture just kills it for me.

If you're ordering a la carte, appetizers, entrees and dessert, with a drink or two, be ready to shell out a hefty amount because the portions are on the small side. We've paid close to $100 tip included for a party of 3 at dinner. Of course, if you stick with the combos, it's still a really great deal.

Service could be better but it all depends on who is working that day. However, no matter what the service, you can be sure the food will fly out of the kitchen because they want you in and out faster than you can shout 'oishi' so they can begin the next round of diners waiting in the wings.

Izakaya Wasa -- pricey mall fusion

Izakaya Wasa at the Spectrum
59 Fortune Drive Irvine, CA 92618
(949) 453-9500
www.izakayawasa.com

I'm very particular when it comes to eating sashimi or sushi. REALLY particular. I have one or two places I will eat raw fish at and then I stick to it. Rarely will you find me venturing to unknown restaurants to indulge in one of my favorite meals of all time.

So when a friend suggested Izakaya Wasa for lunch, I probed and questioned regarding the quality of fish, etc etc. He assured me that it was pretty good. I trust this friend when it comes to raw fish so I happily tagged along for yet another culinary adventure.

Some people may not like this look, but I like minimalist decor. It gives me a feeling of serenity. To me, nothing is worse than extremely loud music and too much going on in a restaurant when you're trying to enjoy a meal. There is a time and place for that sort of dining -- when we're out with a bunch of kids -- and Izakaya Wasa just isn't one of those places.

There are little booths which give you the feel of privacy yet remain part of the entire dining room. The modernist approach makes it perfect for a night out on the town while the wooden plaques adorning the walls creates just a touch of old school charm without being gaudy.

The menu is quite extensive so be prepared to spend some time browsing. There are appetizers, yakitori, sushi, noodles, rice bowls and much much more to choose from. On this particular visit, my friend opted for the spicy tuna don, while I had the premium sushi set. Our lunches came with a salad and a bowl of miso soup. The ginger sesame dressing on the salad was extremely overpowering in terms of ginger. You could barely taste the sesame and they overdressed the salad so by the time you've eaten the first half of the salad, the second half was swimming in the dressing. Overkill if you ask me. Miso soup was quite pleasant -- flavorful without being overly salty.

I found it strange that the server put my friend's order in before I was ready to order, hence, his food came out about 5-7 minutes before mine. The spicy tuna don arrived very beautifully presented, but atop the layer of rice was a generous sprinkling of panko bread crumbs drizzled with a dark, sweet sauce and then finished off with the spicy tuna. I am not a fan of bread crumbs or batter crumbs sprinkled on my rice or my noodles so I didn't like this dish all that much. Also, different restaurants create different versions of spicy tuna ..... here, chili sesame oil is used instead of sriracha chili sauce. It's just a personal preference, so if you like chili oil, then this will be extremely favorable to your palate.

My premium sushi set arrived on a white platter. There were 6 pieces of spicy tuna roll (alternatively, you can choose California roll) and 8 pieces of nigiri. The only piece I didn't like was the mirugai (geoduck clam). It was on the fishy side. The other fish were all very fresh with melt-in-the-mouth texture. There was also enough umami for me to deem this pretty damn good fish for a fusion-style restaurant.

Next time you're at the Spectrum, by all means check it out. It's not outstanding sushi, but it's not bad at all for its location and price.

I-naba -- A Noodling good time

I-naba
20920 Hawthorne Blvd
Torrance, CA 90510
(310) 371-6675

It was on my birthday last year that a bunch of my friends brought me here for dinner. Hence, it was ironic that a year later, I had the pleasure of meeting a dear old friend, the Ubiquitous Grammar Cop (http://lomnoir.blogspot.com) when he was visiting, at I-naba, again, on my birthday. Thirteen years separated our last meeting to this one. We ordered quickly so we could catch up on the last decade between bites of tempura and soba.

Tempura Deluxe Set lunch was agreed upon and thus started the array of food which arrived. A green salad and miso soup arrived first, followed by hijiki (seaweed) salad which had bits of carrots and roasted chestnuts interspersed with the black tasty seaweed.

The set also included some sashimi, but honestly, I-naba is not known for its sashimi or sushi. I suggest you try to avoid this at all costs. Soba and tempura is what they are known for and it is here they excel. My cold soba was perfectly al dente and from the ooos and ahhhs the Grammar Cop was giving off, it'll be safe to say he was enjoying his hot soba as well. The accompanying tempura was perfectly fried -- light without the heaviness of copious batter.

Our meal ended with a scoop of ice cream, but, as the flavor and texture of the sashimi proved before, I-naba needs to have their refrigeration system thoroughly checked out. Ice cream was dotted with chunks of icicles causing extremely discomfort while eating. Mine was slightly better, I finished my sesame ice cream, but the Grammar Cop pushed his green tea version aside.

Noodles and tempura, plus the company of a good friend -- not much else one could ask for!